Dootł'izh eí
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Dootł'izh eí
Hand-written by a Navajo man in the Rez
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Since turquoise is not exactly blue nor is it exactly green (in the way English discriminates them), it can mean both.
Distinct words for blue include yágo dootł’izh (yá meaning sky). Green can be said to be tátł’idgo dootł’izh (a kind of grassy/mossy green). You’ll notice that, in Navajo, to be specific is to add to the description.
[ cited from Navajo WOTD: https://navajowotd.com/word/dootlizh/ ]
Eí means shirt.
Dootł'izh eí means blue shirt.
"Blue shirt people," that's how we're known in the rez.
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Blue Shirts People
Our YahTaHey 2018 team in front of a hogan in Navajo Nation Museum,
Window Rock, AZ. |
And we do that by wearing plain blue shirts, and stripping ourself of any labels. We're simply "friends of [a local partner church's name] from California."
That's also the reason why we travel in private cars (as opposed to church's vans) and avoid caravan-ing as much as we can so we can easily blend-in and not attract attention to ourself.
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Basketball camp in YahTaHey was held outdoor in the church's lot right next to a major highway.
This highway is situated right between Gallup and Shiprock a major route connecting 2 major cities in the area, Gallup and Farmington. Now Shiprock was a site of our camp for roughly 5 years (until 2016), Farmington has always been a base camp for teams serving Shiprock and Sanostee. Sanostee is another camp site been going strong for 9 years (ish?), not far off the highway, roughly halfway between YahTaHey and Shiprock.
Since first day of camp, I noticed cars often honked as they passed by the church. Despite being first year at YahTaHey, looks like our blue shirts reputation may have preceeded us.
Basketball Camp
In the church's lot, next to a main highway.
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Arts & Crafts Camp
In the church's multipurpose room. Before lunch time we send the kids to the main sanctuary for story time while we prep the room for lunch.
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As we conclude camp in YahTaHey, we didn't know whether or not we'll be back to this site the next year. This may feel similar to Tuba City the previous year. Although Tuba City felt sort of "unfinished" —but I believe the seeds won't be in vain. Just like Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God made it grow. We planted the seeds, and perhaps that's our role. Then maybe our local partners or other churches will water it, and in the end God who'll made it grow.
In the other hand, YahTaHey feels more of "one and done." As our team leaders went to debrief and plan for 2019 trips, it's apparent that the mission at YahTaHey is already accomplished. We helped our church partner in YahTaHey re-launch their kids and students program and we have achieved that in one trip we had in 2018.
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This concludes our YahTaHey 2018 series.
Whilst there are plenty of story from rest of the camp, they are very similar to what we had the previous years in Tuba City and Shiprock. It felt a little repetitive from the previous trips so, let's jump straight to Kykotsmovi 2019 series, with all the new things: new tribe, new language, new reservation, new site, and a new culture.
Thank you once again for partnering with us through prayers and financial contribution in serving the YahTaHey community in 2018!
Ahéhee'
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Who's this guy?
War paint (a.k.a. sun screen) on my face
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